Happy birthday, America! We are a nation born of hopeful strangers -- pilgrims, seekers, adventurers and refugees. Yet in our post-Sept. 11 world and uncertain economy, resentment of immigrants seems rampant.

Suzette Martinez Standring

Happy birthday, America! We are a nation born of hopeful strangers -- pilgrims, seekers, adventurers and refugees. Yet in our post-Sept. 11 world and uncertain economy, resentment of immigrants seems rampant.

Historically, they have found solace and welcome in the United States. In turn, their lives have enriched our country, including Albert Einstein (Germany); former secretary of State Madeleine Albright (Czechoslovakia), basketball legend Hakeem Olajuwon (Nigeria), naturalist John Muir (Scotland), architect I.M. Pei (China) and songwriter Irving Berlin (Russia).

Sister Marilyn Lacey, R.S.M., has spent nearly 30 years working with refugees, and she believes America’s blessings stem from our history of welcoming aliens.

“Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” (Hebrews 13:2)

Her new book, “This Flowing Toward Me: A Story of God Arriving in Strangers” (Ave Maria Press 2009) are stories from her life’s work spent in the displaced persons camps of Asia and Africa. At age 60, she is the Director of Refugee Services with Catholic Charities in San Jose, Calif. In 2008, she co-founded Mercy Without Borders (www.Mercybeyondborders.org), which educates women and girls and provides seed capital to women in Southern Sudan.

Her book gives voice to a missing perspective in the national immigration debate – the people of faith who embrace the biblical mandate to welcome and care for newcomers in our midst, no matter what their circumstance or status.

“When an alien resides with you in your land, do not molest him. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt. I, the Lord, am your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34)

In her book, a resettled refugee named Daniel calls Sister Lacey, frightened about his appendectomy. It wasn’t the surgery, but a hospital form that terrified him.

“Sister, why would I want to donate my heart to a stranger?” he asks.

To his great relief, Sister Lacey explains that organ donation was voluntary and a highly unlikely possibility in his case.

The metaphor, “Why would I donate my heart to a stranger?” forms a poetic basis for her book. And the answer is that we are rewarded with lessons in patience, endurance, courage and unfathomable faith.

Because of the destruction of refugees’ lives, Sister Lacey discovered the destructuring of hers through their joy in just being alive. She is multi-tasking, dashing to meet deadlines, busy, wanting to get to the point, like many of us. How can I help you?

One survivor of torture from Cameroon would travel simply to say hello to her and nothing more. “Like an angel of annunciation. He might as well have said, ‘Take off your shoes; this is holy ground,’” she wrote about her revelation of living in the present tense.

In 2001, Sister Lacey was an “Unsung Hero of Compassion,” as honored by the Dalai Lama for her advocacy of refugees and migrants. She understands the opposition -- legal, political and economic -- against illegal immigration.

But all such points are trumped by the scriptural command to welcome and care for the alien.

“When I come to my faith, there is only side that I can be on, and that is to uphold the dignity of every human being, whether documented or undocumented -- it doesn’t matter in God’s eyes -- and to favor a more equitable sharing of the world’s goods,” she said.

The divide is difficult, but not insurmountable, she believes. It can be overcome by dialogue, but the voice of faith is essential in the national debate.

“Mother Teresa said you will meet God in the distressing disguise of the poor. If you want to meet God, then that is your best chance – the poor, the mentally ill, the refugees. Be less fearful,” she said.

For the kindness extended to foreigners, one is blessed far beyond finances. Those bereft give the most.

As a parting gift of gratitude, Seng, a Laotian refugee, pressed into Sister Lacey’s hand her only treasure – a colorful wedding sash still fragrant with the aroma of her beloved homeland.

E-mail Suzette Standring at suzmar@comcast.net. She is the award-winning author of “The Art of Column Writing.” Visit www.readsuzette.com

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